If you notice a change in your son’s body odor, you have experienced the first sign most parents notice that puberty has arrived. It takes hormones to make the body odor change happen and that occurs when puberty starts or maybe a short time before.

Glands in certain places in the skin get a signal from hormones to start producing their fluid. Some bacteria that naturally live on the skin in those special locations, take in the fluid released by the glands and produce a gas that is your body odor. The most common locations for these special glands are the armpits and the skin around the genitals.

It won’t be long and other changes will start to appear in your son’s skin. Glands, different ones this time, are found everywhere in the skin. There are lots of them in the skin on the face and on the back. They produce an oily fluid. Hormones are once again the reason these glands start working. If the opening from the gland onto the surface of the skin becomes blocked, the oil it is producing builds up underneath the surface of the skin and forms a pimple.

Encouraging your son to use deodorant and keep his face clean are two important ways to respond to these “puberty” changes.

The next changes you will notice are also obvious. There is going to be a big change in their emotions. This has to do with rapid brain development, but the skin signs let you know the emotional changes are coming soon.